When I started reading the Bible, I was told how the Bible is the most banned book in the world. I then thought of controversial political literature like Mein Kampf and anything written by communists. But then another thought crossed my mind: what if I read books Christians label as "works of Satan"? I'm talking about any books with instructions on how to cast magic spells for both white and black magic as well as books that inspire fear. Such books include the Wiccan Book of Shadows, Anton Lavey's Satanic Bible, anything written by Aleister Crowley, books on voodoo and spiritism etc. When I told my brother I was interested in reading such books, he got extremely nervous and begged me not to read anything of such nature. Because possession of some of these books can get me in legal trouble where I live, I'll side with caution and not purchase these books. Hypothetically however, does anyone here believe owning and reading certain books would be detrimental to my well being both physically and mentally?
First off I would have to guess that you are in some other country other than US or Canada. I think most of Western Europe would also not have any legal bans on such books. Next, there is no such thing as White or Black magic in and of itself. Magic, assuming it exists, is not sentient, thus can not be any more good or evil than a hammer. The purpose that it is used for can be, but that stems from the caster not the spell. In answer to your main question, no book can harm you physically in and of itself. The closest you get is, for example, one on health and diet that has bad advice for your body type and conditions, and you follow it. Mentally any book can damage you if applied in the correct manner. Even a simple children's book, if read over and over, can cause mental damage. The extent of such depends upon application, content and your individual mental constitution. Does that help?
Yes. At least, I believe it could. Purely anecdotally, I know enough people who dabbled in that sort of stuff to recognize a pattern of general 'troubled-ness' in them. I don't know whether they were always thusly troubled and that attracted them to such works, or whether such works caused them to become troubled (they claim the latter), but there is a pattern one way or the other. Christianity, Wicca, Voodoo, Satanism, Lucifarianism and many other 'spiritualisms' have one foundational concept- you have to 'let it in' for it to take hold of you. In Christianity (that which I am the most versed in), this is a more-or-less constant, conscious invitation to the Holy Spirit to influence your life, and if you lose interest in it, it will let you. In some of the other spiritualisms, its my understanding that its a bit more 'final'- not only is it very difficult to distance yourself from once its 'in', but it (whatever 'it' is) can have a very loose interpretation of 'invitation.' And no, I don't have any proof or evidence, so if this is one of those 'gotcha' threads, well you got me. But I would recommend extreme caution and respect (the kind of respect you would show a jug of nitroglycerin) if you're going to explore this realm.
Yes, that helped and no this is not a 'gotcha' thread. I appreciate the advice. I think a good way would be to borrow the books or read it elsewhere so it does not tempt you to read more or make you lose sleep as it sits on your bookshelf. Along with that, only read a few paragraphs at random pages to prove to yourself that you are immune from the text warping your mind. Once this is done, going all in should not be harmful.
Yes, but the FEAR that it might be true or FEAR that an evil might grab you when you open the book could make your grip on sanity begin to slip. As I and others have said: tread lightly.
That is why people are so ignorant. Far too many people are afraid of knowledge and perfer to stay ignorant. They refuse to learn new things.
Well that's a different story now isn't it? It's one thing to homeschool your children to insulate them from being taught evolution, it's quite another to avoid reading a book that you have no certainty whether the contents are true or not and that uncertainty breaks you!
There's something to that fable of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's rarely so simple as just all one side or the other.
Just because you read something in a book it doesn't mean that it is good for you even if it is true. For instance, you can read a cook book and learn how to make tasty and appealing meals. But some of those dishes can throw your body chemistry out of whack and make you sick but they might be just fine for someone else. As the writer said in 1 Corinthians 6:12 (NLT) = *12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.* Although you can avoid a lot of pain and misery by observing other people and avoiding their mistakes for some things you have to personally experiment to see what works for you. Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
As Christians we have the protection of the Holy Spirit to guard us from many of the evils of Satan. It's like a shield around us that he cannot penetrate. It allows us to walk closer to God, be better Christians, and enjoy our faith. Reading one of these books will not make you sprout horns from your head but what it does is put cracks in that shield of ours. We are now spending time focusing on Satan instead of God and that allows him to approach us more closely. As he gets closer because you are delving into this world of his you may notice small things like yourself becoming angry over small things that didn't bother you before, you may become a little more irritated, you may decide to skip church one week because that big football game is on. This is how Satan works on the soul of a Christian, small things, a little at a time as he slowly pulls you away from Christ. My advice? Let God and the angels worry about Satan and his mystical arts, they are far better equipped to handle it than you are. Your knowledge of spells and magic are not going to help God and He doesn't need it. Focus on your life as a Christian and thank God for protecting you from that world.
Consider the following, which would apply to magic books: You follow the instructions and perform an elaborate ritual to summon a demon for whatever reason. Maybe you want to ask it questions. Seemingly nothing happens. But you are not sure. Over the course of weeks and months, every incident of bad luck or occurrence of sights and sounds you cannot explain you attribute to some force you have unleashed. It's probably not true, but you put yourself in a position to see things that are not really there.
